Dead motorist not wearing seatbelt and was over the limit

A PUB assistant manager who died after being thrown out of her car when she lost control of her vehicle might have survived the accident if she had been wearing a seatbelt, an inquest in Birmingham heard.

A PUB assistant manager who died after being thrown out of her car when she lost control of her vehicle might have survived the accident if she had been wearing a seatbelt, an inquest in Birmingham heard.

Louise Tomlinson, aged 25, was also over the legal drink drive limit when she crashed her Fiat on a windy, dark country road.

Recording that Sutton Coldfield-born Miss Tomlinson, of North Chase House, Birmingham Road, Kenilworth, died as a result of an accident,

Birmingham Coroner Aidan Cotter said: "If she had been wearing her seatbelt her life might have been saved.

"If she had not had excess alcohol in her blood the accident might not have occurred in the first place."

Her boyfriend, Timothy Haultian, said he had met Miss Tomlinson for a drink at the Malt Shovel pub at Stonebridge before she had left to go to the pub where she worked.

He said he had followed her and that he had then come round a bend and found her Fiat half on the verge and half on the road in Wooton Lane, Balsall Common.

He discovered his girlfriend, who had suffered multiple injuries, by the side of the vehicle.

PC Leigh Ellitts said he believed Miss Tomlinson had come round a left-hand bend too quickly and had lost control.

He said the Fiat had gone into a ditch and demolished a wooden fence.

The coroner said when Miss Tomlinson, who was almost twice over the legal drink-drive limit, left the Malt Shovel she was late for work and it was likely she was in a hurry.